Analyzing the publication activity effectiveness of a scientific organization based on the Citation Index (the CEMI RAS case)

Abstract

Subject. The article addresses the assessment of publication activities effectiveness of an organization engaged in scientific research in the humanities, carried out on the basis of citation indexes of publications of employees. Objectives. The purpose is to evaluate the effectiveness of publication activities of a scientific organization and its employees, based on indicators of citation level, the number of publications, the Hirsch index. Methods. The study rests on general scientific research methods. Results. We performed a comparative analysis of publication activities of three institutes engaged in research in the field of economics, presented an overview of Russian databases, i.e. the Russian Science Citation Index (RSCI), the eLibrary platform, analyzed the effectiveness of publication activities of scientific researchers of the Central Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences by field of science and by academic position, using the indicators of citation index (Hirsch index), the number of publications included in the RSCI, and the number of references from the RSCI. Our analysis demonstrated high efficiency of the CEMI RAS, which to a greater extent depends on the publication activities of its staff in the position of chief and leading researchers. Conclusions. The existing system for evaluating the publication activities of scientific organizations, which rests on quantitative indicators, is effective, though not sufficiently informative. It is required to expand the list of indicators and conduct a peer review of researchers’ publications.